Centre Stand!

I found a video on T'Internet on how to put a bike on a centre stand. Brilliant! http://bikesandtravels.com/biker.aspx?ride=1014

I've always struggled getting a big bike on the stand, and it was getting to the point that I wasn't really lubing the chain properly, so I had to sort it. Google being your friend and all that, I found this video which explains that you don't lift the bike, you push down on the stand as hard as you can. I was sceptical, but it works. That's Physics and levers for you.

and since it has been some months since changing the spark plugs, and the starting problems seem to have faded away (with a small remaining issue with the tap on the petrol tank being blocked except on the reserve tank), I think I can safely say that the spark plugs being wrong were the cause of the starting issues.

Now all I have to do is work out why she is consuming oil at about a litre every 1000 miles - or is that OK for an old girl like this one?

OK, so is this the bit of pixie dust we needed?

So, the motorcycle was fitted with a refurbished starter motor. And now, it turns over fine every time. However, I still have a bit of a problem starting from warm. It's OK when it is cold, OK when it is hot, but in that midrange, you know like run the bike, leave for an hour or two and try to start it again, it struggles. Since the ferry ride is 45 minutes, it can be embarrassing when it won't start when it's time to get off.

It does seem to start on a stand better than when I am sat on it. However that might be just coincidence, since it is usually when I have failed to start the bike, and then I leave it for five mins and just spin it up one more time while it is standing there.

So, next I thought, time to change the spark plugs. That will give me a chance to have a look at what is going on inside the engine - are they black with soot, and so on? So any way, the routine for changing the spark plugs is the same as everything; remove seat, remove tank, remove air cleaner (bought a new air cleaner element just in case) and then pull plugs out. I even bought the right size plug spanner, and 3/8 inch extension bars ready to go to reach the spark plugs way down in the engine.

Pulled them out - very disappointing - nothing really very wrong with them at all. Not been burning too hot; not been in the bike very long to be honest. They had a little bit of blackening, and the gaps were set very wide. I did note some slivers of metal on two of them when I pulled out the new plugs. Odd, that. Maybe they had been over-tightened. I thought about not replacing them, but I have a new set already delivered anyway. Then I noticed that the new ones weren't the same as the ones I have just pulled.

So the set I pulled out off the bike are NGK CR9EH .. which have a profile like this one.

.. and the new ones I bought online (quoting the bike and the year) are NGK CR9E, and look like this:

I checked the manual several times, and googled for them, and yes, the ones I have bought to replace the plugs are the correct ones, not the ones that were on the bike already. The keen eye will note that the correct plugs have a thread that goes all the way, and allows the spark to protrude into the correct place in the cylinder head. The ones that were on the bike have a shoulder, and even with over-torquing the things into the head and damaging the top threads, won't put the spark in the right place in the cylinder head.

I know that this is the risk one takes when buying a bike from eBay; maybe not unique to eBay, but the history of people futzing with the bike is unknown, and there are an awful lot of ways of cocking up, but this is just careless. On top of the starter motor that was on its last legs, the starter solenoid that had been borrowed from another bike and jerry-rigged into place, and the unique changes to the wiring loom that have been made, starting to wonder about my new girl.

Bike starts well now, but we will see how allergic she is to ferries again this week. Fingers and toes crossed.

Have a new (to me) motorcycle ..

And she is lovely .. ZZR1100 1995 (D3).

Unfortunately the former owner forgot to tell me about the issue with starting from anything other than cold. It happened to me once on the way back from Southampton on my first outing, but it was really bad the first time over to the Isle of Wight. I bump-started the dang thing five times in one day!  It just clicks when I press the starter .. so I changed the battery (no improvement), changed the starter solenoid (no improvement) so it's on to the starter motor. Since I really need the bike to get to work - especially on the Isle of Wight, I thought I would buy a new one rather than try to refurbish the older one. So I went to a reputable bike bits supplier, and they duly sent one for a rather large lump of money. Part duly arrives, set aside some time this Bank Holiday weekend to do the swap.

I eventually got down to the bit in the bike - removed petrol tank, disconnected battery, removed lower side panel, removed alternator (eventually! had to go and buy a long allen key to get to the bolts required) and then removed the old starter motor. This at least avoided the guidance in the service manual which says Remove Fuel Tank. Remove Carbs. Remove Engine Oil. Remove Engine.

So, out comes the old starter motor and I go to unbox the shiny new one. And, guess what? It is completely the wrong one. The picture in the advert was the correct one, much like the one closer to the camera below. Unfortunately the one further away in the picture is the one they sent. It has the wrong size, wrong fittings, wrong oil seal size and the wrong pinion. *sigh*. 

So I may end up trying to repair old one instead. I have cleaned it all out (it was a big mess inside), checked the armature which seems to be connected in all the right places, and insulated in all of the (different) right places, and I have a kit of bits coming from the very capable Wemoto to replace the brushes and springy things, and I hope for a good result.

Meanwhile, catching the bus and stealing the car from wifey, who is very understanding.

.. And in the meantime I thought it a good idea to buy a little runaround ..

So I am working on the big girl. I have it in mind to do a bob/rat/chop on her .. she is mechanically very sound (probably needs the clutch sorting out along with the brakes needing a rebuild, new air filter, oil filter, new tyres, seized fuel tap, seized choke, seized throttle cables, switchgear needs sorting out, new sprockets and chain, rusty frame needs sorting out and the seat needs recovering and repadding. Front headlight is rusted out on the rim, and the front mudguard is cracked. The battery is long dead. The front handlebar bar ends are rusted out to where I am not sure it will be possible to get new grips on her).

My vision statement for her is something like this ..

 

 She is a bit of a pig at the moment though, lots of bolts shearing and so on. I did get the exhaust off, but one stud snapped, so I will have to borrow / buy EasyOffs to get the stud out. I like the wrapped look as the picture above .. the wrap comes from China, and is not too expensive.  I like the idea of a matt or satin black frame where it needs repainting, satin black wheels and spokes, whitewall tyres, creamy white paint job on bobbed mudguards and tank, with an airbrushed orange edging. WS2812B LED strings around to pick out the lines of the bike at night - default colour orange again, but hey! what would be the point of WS2812 without a microcontroller doing some fancy lighting patterns.

So, it's going to take a little longer to sort out the old girl than I hoped. I might make some good progress in August - anyway, it gives a window of time where I am not driving a car, and I am now working across a few of the NHS Trusts in the South. The car parking is outrageous at hospitals, and it is no better for visiting staff. It's not much better for permanent staff - they might let you park in the park and ride for a fee (!). I'm also over on the other Island quite a bit, so I thought it would be a good idea to get a little runny around kind of bike in the meantime. She was cheap, so there are some bits to tidy up. The grips need replacing, the sprockets and chain were well beyond sell-by date, the rubbers on the pegs are worn. But she starts first time, which is one of the the major requirements of a commuter bike. 

 

I've got some new grips on order from China, and very pleased with the gold chain and replacement sprockets. 

Might have to replace those shocks and springs sometime - they look a little shabby. But then I am in danger of spending more time and money on the little runaround that keeps me on the road, when I should be spending money on the big girl.

Fooze that bike!

I've decided that this is the year to get my bike back on the road. It's in a bit of a sorry state, but nothing that a few tens of hours with sandpaper, primer and paint won't sort out. I need a bit of a something to get my teeth into that isn't just electronics.

The bike used to look like this when it was new 16 years ago:

I hope to to something a bit different with it, and get it on the road again this year. It would be fun to get over to the Island on it! and I should be spending a couple of days a week there this year for the project I am working on at St Mary's.